A Word from the Lord

And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for any one to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.  1 John 2:27  NASB

Have no need – Let’s just read this verse without its context, culture or theological history.  Why not?  Many do.  Doesn’t it clearly say that you don’t have to study or debate or concern yourself with all the scholarship?  All you need is the “anointing.”  In fact, doesn’t John guarantee that you already have this anointing, and therefore you “have no need” for any teachers?  You’re saved.  You have the Holy Spirit (is He a “possession” of yours?).  What more do you need?  Apparently, nothing!

Did John really endorse what I call the “Holy Spirit epistemology” in this verse?  Did John really mean that no further instruction is necessary?  Just pray and wait for illumination, right?  Perhaps we need to back up a few verses and look at John’s opening statements.  What we find changes the meaning of this very convenient verse.

Let’s start with verse 24.  It’s obviously connected since John is introducing the topic of abiding.  In verse 24 he writes that we abide because we continue to exercise a faith based on what we heard from the beginning.  In fact, John implores us to let the original message have its full impact in our lives.  Of course, John uses Greek terms to express Hebrew ideas.  So when he says “heard,” you can be sure that he doesn’t mean “just listen.”  To hear is to obey.  So abiding is not merely acknowledging or taking notes or storing information away for a rainy day.  It is doing what you have heard.

Clearly this is an allusion to the path of the Tanakh.  In fact, when we realize that John had no other Bible than the Tanakh, when we put aside all of the New Testament documents, then we are left with the obvious conclusion that what his readers heard “from the beginning” could only be the teaching of Moses, as James clearly states in Acts  15:21.  Put the verse in its context.  The reason John’s readers can abide without teaching is simply because they have God’s instructions in hand.  They have the Tanakh and the community.  Furthermore, John’s statement echoes the proclamation of Yeshua in the gospel (John 14:26), “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”  If the Spirit is sent from the Father, can we imagine that He would not carry the Father’s message?  If He comes in order to bring the teaching of Yeshua to mind, can we imagine that Yeshua’s views of the Tanakh’s instructions would somehow be altered by the Spirit?  Of course not.  The Father, the Son and the Spirit teach the same thing.  John insists that any teacher who does not convey this consistent message is a false teacher (see verse 23).  His readers have no need of anyone who contradicts the same message preached from the beginning.

The context suggests that John is referring to those who are teaching contrary to what his readers already know to be true.  His readers have no need of any of these kind of teachers.  They have the Spirit, and the promise of the Messiah, to countermand anything such false teachers would say.  The Greek indefinite pronoun, tis, can also be translated “someone,” as in “you have no need of someone to teach.”  But this is not the same as saying that they have no need of any instruction at all.  John’s polemic against those who claim to be teaching the truth, but who in fact are denying the message of Yeshua, does not eliminate all teaching, as the translation “someone” demonstrates.  “Holy Spirit epistemology” that denies the need for instruction is fallacious, especially if it stands in contradiction to “what you heard from the beginning.”

I might suggest that the NASB choice of “any one” rather than “someone” pushes the reader toward the belief that study and consultation is unnecessary.  I hope that this wasn’t the reason for choosing “any one.”  But our contemporary penchant for spiritual individualism and our tendency to ignore history feeds this idea, to our detriment.  John would never have suggested that study was unnecessary.  Neither would he suggest that a believer can be all that God intended if he is separated from biblical tradition and community.  We must shift the paradigm if we are to read the text in its context.  And shift we must!  Otherwise, we can all retire to the armchair and hope that God speaks personally to each of us.

Topical Index:  Holy Spirit, epistemology, instruction, teach, 1 John 2:27

 

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Pam

Thank you Skip
I’m just beginning a wonderful study of 1 Jn. and this is very helpful.

carl roberts

no need for a Teacher? preposterous! – For He (Himself) has said- “without Me- you can do nothing!”- Without Him I can do nothing! without Him I’d surely fail.. – without Him I would be drifting..- like a ship without a sail! Oh no, no and no! Hear my declaration of dependence!- I need Him every day and every hour! I wouldn’t trust the best fifteen minutes of my life- (not that I could even “make it” that long!
Friends! – Hallelujah! – His Name is Emmanuel! G-d with us. And this also is His “command,”- “Remember Me.”
Not only does He give unto us “our daily bread”- but even our “breathings”- our moment-by-moment heartbeats are all the gift of God. ~It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not ~ (Lamentations 3.22) Oh!! Just hold on here.. Why would a Christian man be quoting from Lamentations? Lol!- (*running from the room- kicking and screaming- and laughing out loud!*) – where maybe just a simple “oy!” would suffice. Don’t swat the fly with a hammer- right? ~ Is not my Word like a fire? says the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ~ (Jeremiah 23.29) Hmmm.. O.T. again? A cleansing purifying holy fire burning away all that is chaff and false. – amein. (may it be so).

Sandra

this post has sent me all over the place this morning. I started out kind of angry and have ended up somewhat depressed. not all of us are gifted to be scholars. studying is HARD for me. thank God he does speak to me personally sometimes!

Dorothy

And to me, too.
We also must test {1 Thessalonians 5:21} whatever we hear against the truth of Scripture.
The Holy Spirit takes the Bible and makes that personal to the believer.
When a verse comes to your mind–the Holy Spirit is speaking to answer or to bring comfort.

Gabe

Christianity is not ONLY a religion of studying, however, active seeking does include reading and discussing:

“You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 11:19

This is not exactly “scholarship”, but it is a daily wrestling with God’s message.

Personally, I have a deficiency in not being very organized, however, I know that restoring God’s image in my life includes making order from chaos. As we change and mature in Christ, we will not necessarily excel in every discipline, but I believe we will not be lacking.

Christian perfection/completeness is not becoming a super-hero, but it means that God will take our lack of organization and/or study skills (for example) – and make us sufficient in both of those areas.

Sandra

the name of my boat is “pity party” and you just shot a hole in it 😉

Michael and Arnella Stanley

As I trod upon this spiritual journey from being an “animal” to becoming a human being one of the things I see differentiating the two is study, which includes discipline and hard work.
In my past, one of the results of my devolution was not just a lack of study- I had no desire to study or even learn. As a result I suffered the consequences; after sleeping through most of Junior High School I dropped out of High School at age 16 and began my adult life hamstrung and ill prepared for anything but a base animal lifestyle marked by predatory behavior and the pursuit of fleshly passions.
YHWH has since quickened me in Messiah as to the understanding that I was made in His image and therefore I can and must reflect His glory so that I am less Neanderthal and more human. Study is one of those things that separates man from beast. Thank you Skip for helping me first to see my need to become human and for making me more human (His image) by your daily word study. May your reward be great in the olam ha ba. Michael

Hi Michael, I just don’t like all this talk about being an animal. *twisting my hands around uncomfortably* I’ve been ready to say this for a while now. A human is a human, however he chooses to behave. And just about as much in the image of God as a train wreck is in the image of a train. If you see a ton of twisted, smoking metal, you may believe you have seen a train, but only “sortof”.

Satan likes to try to make people act like animals. But even if I “meow”, I am still a human being. Evolution likes to say human beings are animals. Culture (spirit of an area) certainly tries to convience our youth this is true so they will only follow their baser nature. When you speak Scripture, it gives pause. Tell them you reap what you sow, or sin is fun for a season but leads to death. Try that with a charging mama bear on a hiking trail. You’re breakfast.

We ought not agree with those who keep calling humans animals. I don’t. Humans have a conscience, animlas don’t. I’m sorry to say some people have behaved in ways they don’t deserve to be classified as human, but when they are that wicked, they don’t deserve to be in the animal catergory either. Have pity on animals. Take abortion: animals don’t kill their young unless they are insane.

When you were living outside Gods plan for you, He found a way to get thru to you, this is never true with animals.
A human {good or bad} has the superior ability to foresee consequences and understand the differences between right and wrong, then act accordingly. Even when a criminal chooses crime, he is hoping against hope of not being caught, he is choosing evil on purpose. We have the ability to know we are being cruel, and only humans are concerned about style, clothes, make-up, impressing others with things like cars, houses, toys,(=all water craft, lol.)

The Holy Spirit has His work cut out for Him in shaping us, for sure! He is the skilled craftsman working with the beaten gold to make the candlestick for the temple, {Ex. 25 –somewhere in that area} It takes thousands and thousands of little whacks to shape it out of one peice. His fully beholds Jesus, the image He is working us into. Felt any whacks lately??

Carol Mattice

Men are NOT men outside the BODY OF CHRIST. Men are men when they have HIS SPIRIT within.

Cheryl Durham

ORDER OUT OF CHAOS….to me, that means finishing this paper….about 2,000 more words! Skip, thanks for talking about the ‘spirit guide’ thing…it helps clarify paragraphs!

Donna Earleywine

Skip Thank you so much for this teaching today. It is very timely spoken into my life. Where or is it possible to get a copy of the Tanakh?

Darlene

Donna,

You can order a Tanakh at amazon.com. This one is good – translated by a Jew who converted to Christianity and he translated directly from Hebrew. Took him 20-30 yrs to do so. This also has the New Testament also translated from Hebrew. The hardcover copy is $23.47 Also the parshas are indicated in the scriptures, inc. verses of NT scripture. Also there is Artscroll English Tanach by Rabbi Nosson Scherman which is just the OT printed with both Hebrew pages and English pages along with commentary. It’s hardcover and on sale for $24.99. There is also a complete bible translated from Aramaic which I recently purchased from Amazon. I don’t remember the translator’s name or the exact title…I’m at work now and can’t check. Hope this gives you a start.

Darlene

Donna, I forgot to enter the title of my first suggestion of the Tanakh. Forgive me. It’s Complete Jewish Bible : An English Version of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and B’Rit Hadashah (New Testament)
David H. Stern, published by the JPS.

Darlene

Donna, I was able to check my past orders at Amazon and found the bible — Holy Bible: From the Ancient Eastern Text: George M. Lamsa’s Translation From the Aramaic of the Peshitta. It’s $23.75. There’s another more expensive translateded from Hebrew my neighbor uses and likes. There are lots of choices! Hope you find one. Darlene

Rodney

I too have the Stone Edition Tanakh (and a Stone Edition Chumash, which is just the first 5 books with extra commentaries plus the Targum Onkelos included alongside), however I bought it for the Hebrew (because I’m learning to read it), not the English. The English translation in this one is just as affected by translator bias as any English translation of the Bible, just with a different slant. As with English Bibles, it is good to have multiple different translations to compare if you are really serious about studying the Word.

John Adam

What about the ‘rhema’ word we sometimes experience, when God hits us over the head with a scriptural two-by-four?

Dorothy

Oh, that happens to you, too?? lol

“I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

John Adam

Amen, Dorothy! 🙂

Peter Alexander

I’ve been reading a couple of books along this line by Eugene Peterson. One is Eat This Book and the other is Answering God: The Psalms As a Tool For Prayer.

If there’s a commentary on this verse it’s Yeshua’s own words: Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you.

Brian

You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,
my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra – which persecutions I endured: yet from them all the Lord rescued me.
Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it
and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
‎2 Timothy 3:10-17 (ESV)

Timothy had his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, plus, the Apostle Paul as his examples.

In the beginning of the section of the letter that is written above, we see Paul making reference to Timothy following after his teaching, conduct, aim in life, faith, patience, steadfastness, persecutions, and sufferings in three different locations, and the deliverance of the Lord. Timothy is then encouraged to continue in what he has learned and to whom (plural) he had learned it, and how from childhood he has been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Then he follows up with these same sacred writings/All Scripture is profitable for teaching . . . that the messenger of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

This is a prime example of a very ancient and Semitic way of teaching others of how to walk with God and hearing His voice. We have Eunice, Lois, and Paul being living letters of God’s story to Timothy of what the Spirit of the living God had written on their hearts, while pointing and reminding Timothy that his life must be constantly reoriented to the revealed Word of God/Tanakh through diligent study.

We need both sandals to walk as productive citizens of the Kingdom!

Carol Mattice

Hi there everybody!
So much to read and so many angles to be looked at and as long as CHRIST is at the centre of it all I am okay.
Just a tid bit here about being animals.. I am of the opinion that anyone even outside of CHRIST does not even exist as far as GOD is concern. We receive our being and existence the moment G-d brings us INTO Existence. I am thankful that the kingdom life internally has already been set up within and now I wait for the external kingdom to be set up by coming down.
Blessed be the Name of the LORD.
Be blessed as you obey HIM always..

Kathy Kilen

I thought this was a good study today. One thing I’ve learned to pray over the years from scripture that has touched me the most, is from 1 Cor. 2:10-17:” Holy Spirit search the heart of God, the height and the depth of God and teach me your ways. Yes, we need teachers and we need to study, but I am always blessed when I hear a speaker and already have the concept in my heart and I realize His faithfulness in answering this prayer. It has also blessed me with a greater understanding of scripture when I read it. He is good!

Dorothy

I address both Skip and Carol, — my relativies that haven’t received Christ yet are animals? I beg your parden, that is wrong. They are human beings that Jesus ✞ died for, and I am praying and trusting in Him in His great mercy to call them to Himself. He has done it with others, He will do it for them.

I know the image is ruined. WAS created in the image of God. But now ARE in the image of Adam. Never thought of it before, –but once saved, probably restored back to image of God. We are worked on as long as we are here, but when translated into His presence the work will be instantly finished! Glory!!
I won’t call any human an animal. The drunk laying in the ditch soaked in urine can be saved. As long as there is life there is hope. They exist alright, in pain, denial, hopelessness, shame, and sorrow.
I’m sure glad our people here don’t think they are animals, they’d never go out both winter and summer, taking hot coffee and sandwiches, playing their guitars under the bridges, teaching the Gospel.

Dorothy

Dear Skip, last night I watched a presentation on Uday Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti, you are correct — this ‘thing’ was NOT human! I think I have not wanted to imagine what ‘things’ (unable to use the word people here) are capable of.

Dorothy

P.S. You know a lot of words and a lot of stuff, but you don’t seem to know the heart of JESUS

♥ ♪ ♥ ♫ ♥ ♪ ♥ ♫ ♥ ♪ ♥ ♫ ♥ ♪ ♥ ♫ ♥
Thou hast bled and died for me;
I will henceforth live for Thee.

Christopher Slabchuck

Our humanity is our likeness to Adonai which comes from being in covenant with Him. When we abandon this covenant our actions become like those of animals. In the first story of Genesis we count the 7 generations of Adonai’s covenent with creation. The number 7 means covenant. When we are not in covenant we revert back to our animal existance on which we were created – the day of the 6th generation. When we read references to 6 something, it always means our beastial nature (i.e. the idol of Nebuchadnezer was 60 cubits high by 6 cubits wide; the temple tax of Solomon was 666 talents of gold per year, etc.). It does does not refer to our earthly form which remains in the image of Adonai but rather only to our covenant bond with Adonai as ben Elohim. Our nature is animal, our purpose is divine – to be in covenant with Adonai; to be His flesh, His people.

Dorothy

Light bulb came on! Numbers I totally get! Wish someone had just said this so it would have clicked. Thank you, Christopher.

Created on the 6th day, man definitely has the number 6 impressed upon him. It is 7-1. The number of man as destitute of God, without Christ. Six days appointed for labour, with one day associated with God for his rest. (but there exists no rest apart from peace with God).
The serpents was also created on the 6th day, and has 6 names.
The 6th commandment relates to the most awful sin of murder.
The sixth clause of the Lord’s Prayer treats sin.
Cain’s decendants are given only as far as the 6th generation.

There is six-fold opposition to the Work of God on the part of man in the opposition to Nehemiah. These are re-inacted everyday when any work for the Lord is done. Scripture makes clear the wiles of the devil.

1. grief 2.10
2. laughter 2: 19
3. wrath, indignation, mockin 4.1-4
4. fighting and open opposition 4.7,8
5. conference, 6.1,2 “come, let us meet” “let us take council together” vs. 7. This attempt was
to “weaken them from the work” vs 9, but Nehemiah refused to parley.
6. false friends 6. 10-14 greatest danger of all — satan, as an angel of light– seeking to hinder the
work.

Michael and Arnella Stanley

Hi Dorothy, I have been following your journey in the community and am heartened by the way you are being ministered to. Skip and the community have been patient and you have shown endurance…. No wonder Yah has caused ‘the light bulb to come on’! Your insights on the number 6 is much appreciated. Hang on in there with us – you are a blessing. Arnella